Electronic components, such as semiconductor devices, circuits, and printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies, are frequently tested, during and after their manufacture, using a test system such as an automated test equipment (ATE). To perform these tests, an ATE may include instruments that generate or measure test signals such that a range of operating conditions can be tested on a particular device-under-test (DUT). An instrument, for example, may generate a pattern of digital or analog signals that are applied to a semiconductor device, and may measure digital or analog signals from the semiconductor device as a response.
An ATE is frequently used to apply a test signal with a specific voltage waveform to one or more test points of the DUT. To generate such a test signal, the ATE may comprise a voltage driver that generates programmable voltage levels. A voltage driver may be single-ended and provide a programmable output voltage at a single output port for connection to a test point on the DUT. A voltage driver may alternatively be differential and generate a differential voltage signal to drive DUTs that take differential signals as input. The generated differential voltage signal comprises two voltage waveforms that are usually of opposite phase at a pair of differential outputs.